We finally finished our chores in Au Chalong and headed off to have some fun. The dinghy cover from Cholamark Boat company is finished and although it took a week they did a brilliant job and it looks great at about 1/3 of the price it would have cost back home. So we are super happy with that. We headed over to Nai Harn to chill for a few days and look for some surf. The rollers from Christmas were long gone and there weren't even big enough waves for a boogie board. The sea lice was also horrible, so we did not stay long. Allure and Dream Maker wee with us and as we were finishing school one day the kids came over in the dinghy to tell us that a guy had died on one of the boats out in the harbor 10 days ago. The authorities had discovered this and removed the body earlier in the day. It was a natural death but as the guy was a single -hander no one had known until the smell made it obvious. So the kids wanted to know if Zack wanted to drive by the boat and smell the dead guy. His response? "Yeah, just let me grab a shirt." He got dressed and was off to smell the dead guy boat. You never know where the next adventure will be out here. He did say he held his breathe so it wasn't so bad.

The surf was flat at Nai Harn so we decided to head up to Khoa Lak where the surf report had the waves rolling in at a whopping 1 foot. We had just spent a week being responsible so we decided to take our chances and sail 60 miles to see if we could catch some rides. We have been doing a lot of motoring in Thailand but the wind was up and we were able to sail the entire way so all good. We got to Khoa Lak at about sunset and turned in early just in case there was a bit of surf in the morning. Up early, breakfast and we headed in. The surf was perfect! Nice 3 footers rolling in at a 10 second interval. Boy, was I gloating. The boys thought I was nuts to sail this far for no waves but here we were and it was smiles all around. We surfed till sunset. Zack was rocking it out on the waves and came up with the idea of a daily challenge. We planned to spend a week working on our surfing skills. I put out the first challenge. Stand up and as you are surfing in jump turn on your board so you are facing the other way. Zack bought into it and the prize was if he did it first he could stay up late and watch a movie, if I did it first he had to write me a love poem. He waited till after the negotiations to tell me he can already do this any time. Little shit. He said he would still pay up if I did it. It took a few tries with some painful falls but I did it! Three times! So he wrote me a poem. It went like this: Roses are red, Violets are blue, I love you. I guess you take what you can get. His challenge was next. Pop up, lay back down and then pop up again. He nailed it I tried a few times but it just wasn't going to happen. David's challenge was to pop up and surf with your opposite foot forward. Zack is a goofy foot which means he surfs with his left foot back and right forward. It is odd because he is right handed. David wanted him to try it the other way around. Zack put the leash on his right foot and gave it a good go. He got smashed the first three times and then he nailed it and got a ride. Challenge over he went back to goofy footing it. David got up and surfed goofy foot one run and then back to regular. I didn't even try that one. The thing that makes Khoa Lak perfect for us is the lack of green beans. Green Beans is our name for people who stand in front of you and have no idea how much damage an out of control surf board to the head can actually cause. It is of course the surfer's responsibility to control his board, but that's not always possible at our level of surfing. Zack seems to be able to maneuver around people and David and I are getting better, but we do try to stay away from the crowds. Zack was tearing it up one afternoon and he found himself with a "haricot vert" He was well away from anyone and this French guy kept following and lining up a few feet away from him. Zack would patiently move over a bit to have enough room and the guy would just follow him. Zack moved a few times and then decided to just surf and if the guy got in the way he would just run him over. What can you do? It turned out fine but I told Zack it was a compliment because this guy obviously thought Zack was good enough that he knew the best places to surf. It was an awesome week and by the end of it we were all so tired we could barely stand, never mind surf. The last day the waves got huge, even the local boys were out surfing. Zack got some rides but we just got crushed. It was time to head back south so Zack could hook up with his friends for some kid time and we could recover.

The crews of Allure and Dream Maker had been in Au Chalong doing some boat projects and by the time we got back down they were ready for some fun as well. We headed into Phuket Town for Chinese New Year. There was a great night market on and we spent the evening wandering around trying different foods. Night markets are big in Thailand and the array of vendors is wild. You can find almost anything here. Not a great variety for the vegetarians but there is always something. At one market we saw an entire stall selling fried bugs. It's pretty common here to snack on a bag of fried silkworms or cockroaches. We have seen non-Thai people buying bugs to eat. Zack was ready to eat one if someone would pay him 100 baht but no one would pay and he wasn't doing it for free. He did get a cool ice cream at the market. It was a small dome and it was coated in a weird gelatin. It was good but I think sometimes it is more about the presentation than the taste with desserts here. The ice creams were all sorts of bright colors and they looked super cool but there wasn't a lot going on in the taste, just ice cream with a jelly coating. Always interesting though! One of the highlights was a busker with one of the coolest acts we have ever seen. This guy was dressed up like a flashy, young Michael Jackson and he had made two matching life size puppets that were attached to him with bars. The effect was that they danced with him. So this guy played some hip music and the three of them danced disco style in a big circle for donations. It was a great costume and very entertaining. We walked around waiting for the fireworks or some festivities to start but it wasn't happening. We tried to ask a few people but the language barrier makes it difficult. We were walking back when Jason spotted a guy selling mojitos that he recognized from a previous market. He speaks great English so we went over for some info and a few mojitos. The festivities were scheduled for Feb 13 thru the 15 to coordinate with the Phuket Festival. This was just a normal Saturday night market. Poor Zack had carried his fireworks all night for nothing. We couldn't even set them off because there was a fair security presence. So we caught a taxi home and we will try again on the thirteenth.

Our friend Dean told us about a great sale that Freedom Board shop was having and that he had gotten a nice surf board super cheap. We headed down to see if we could get a next board. We have 3 but David and I usually end up sharing the mini mal and Zack can only surf his Jon-Jon if the waves are just right so yes one more board would round out our quiver. We walked down and spent an hour or so talking to the owner. He was an ex-pat from California and has been living in Thailand for about 20 years. He gave us a great deal on a board. It's a last years model but that's fine with us. We can't wait to get back up to Khoa Lak and give it a go. I do think Zack is going to lay claim to it but that's ok to. The report says there is no surf going on but that won't stop us. We are going to head south for a bit with our friends but as soon as it picks up again, Khoa Lak here we come!!!